Dive at The Steps, Kurnell, NSW on Sunday 10 January 2016

Dive Details

Location

Date

Sunday 10 January 2016

Time

10:45am - 12:08pm

Details

My earlier dive at The Leap was so good I went back for a second dive at The Steps. I also wanted to look for the missing pygmies, "Noel" and the angler. It would be an outgoing tide but as it was still close to high tide I thought the visibility would still be pretty good.

I jumped in at The Steps and descended to the sand line. Visibility was still 5 to 10 metres and the slight surge was about the same as the previous dive. I headed towards The Leap along the sand line. I came across a large school of striped catfish. The school wasn't quite as big as the one that had been at Seahorse Rock but it is possible it was the same school that had moved.

At the rock with the white honeycomb sponge I headed up from the sand line to the rock with "Di" and "Mikhail". They were still there on the same holdfasts they'd been on before.

I headed back to the sand line but stayed just up above the rocks on the sand line. I was hoping to find one of the Nembrotha purpureolineata nudibranchs - and I did.

At Diversity Rock I found "Daniel", "Rosie" and "Arnold" pretty much where they'd been on the previous dive. I then found the angler on the same rocks as "Rosie" and "Arnold" just behind Diversity Rock. I also found the two pygmy pipehorses (IL2015123101 and IL2016011002). I still could not find "Noel".

I swam along the sand line towards the basket star and stopped at the rock with the pygmies. This time I found the male (IL2016011001) as well as a female which turned out not to be the female but another new pygmy (IL2016011003). That was my third new pygmy for the day.

I ascended to the rock where the other pygmies used to be hoping to find them but after scouring the rock I could not see them. I came back via the basket star and checked out the two new pygmies again. I then swam back to Diversity Rock for one last look for "Noel".

I swam on to "Di" and "Mikhail" and saw the same weedy seadragon I'd seen on the previous dive before I to the seahorses. I left the seahorses, swam to the boulders and started my safety stop on the way to the exit. The tide was just right for an easy exit.

Seas

Slight surge

Visibility

5 to 10 metres

Duration

82 minutes

Maximum depth

14.8 m

Average depth

11.9 m

Water temperature

19.8°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEDT

Note that tides at dive site may vary from above location.

Low

2:43am

0.43m

High

9:16am

1.85m

Low

3:54pm

0.27m

High

9:48pm

1.40m

Camera gear

Camera

Nikon D7000

Lens

Nikon AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8D

Housing

Ikelite 6801.70

Lens port

Ikelite Flat Port 5502.41

Strobe

2 x Ikelite SubStrobe DS161

Photographs

Depth information, where present, indicates the depth of the camera when the photograph was taken and can be used to approximate the depth of the subject.

Striped catfish, Plotosus lineatus. 12.2 m.

Striped catfish, Plotosus lineatus. 12.3 m.

Female pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Di"). 10.7 m.

Male pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Mikhail"). 11 m.

Female pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Di"). 10.8 m.

Nudibranch, Nembrotha purpureolineata. 12.6 m.

Male pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Daniel"). 13.3 m.

Female pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Rosie"). 12.9 m.

Red-fingered angler, Porophryne erythrodactylus, ("Kim"). 13 m.

Red-fingered angler, Porophryne erythrodactylus, ("Kim"). 12.9 m.

Male pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Arnold"). 12.8 m.

Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015123101). 12.8 m.

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016011002). 12.9 m.

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016011001). 13.7 m.

Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016011003). 13.8 m.

Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016011003). 13.6 m.

Basket star, Astrosierra amblyconus. 13.3 m.

Basket star, Astrosierra amblyconus. 13.4 m.

Dwarf lionfish, Dendrochirus brachypterus. 13.3 m.

Pygmy leatherjacket, Brachaluteres jacksonianus. 13.6 m.

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016011001). 13.6 m.

Clown toby, Canthigaster callisterna. 13.6 m.

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016011002). 12.6 m.

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016011002). 12.7 m.

Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015123101). 12.6 m.

Female pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Rosie"). 12.9 m.

Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015123101). 12.7 m.

Female pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Di"). 10.4 m.

False cleanerfish, Aspidontus taeniatus. 6 m.